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Artists

My attraction to the energy of the urban Bay Area inspires a playful, excited examination of the frenzied systems around me. Highly active environments such as the Port of Oakland or sub-street San Francisco feel like childhood experiments with Tinkertoys and Legos, or voyages into Richard Scarry’s chaotic worlds. I am only at the beginning of my exploration into the design of these infrastructures as a way to identify my role inside them, and allow myself the pleasure to revisit a youthful mindset that seems more and more fleeting.

Born and bred in the North of England, I traveled and worked around the world for many years before settling in Oakland, CA in 1996. A long time photographer – I literally started on my dad’s knee – I try to record the world from an interesting and, whenever possible, different perspective. As a young man I was fascinated by aviation – it remains a passion to this day – and the drive to photograph aircraft and aviators is still evident in my work today. Five years at sea traveling the world introduced me to new people and places. People – often outside the mainstream – are prominent in my work, both informal street scenes and in the studio. Different places and cultures fascinate me, their color, their rituals and their attitudes to life – and I seek to capture it as directly as possible.

Born in the UK, for over a decade Sam Breach worked in London as a Computer Graphics artist before moving to the SF Bay Area to work as a Digital Artist initially for Industrial Light & Magic and later for Electronics Arts. In 2012 Breach started creating personal, conceptual work with its roots in photography. Breach’s visual storytelling reflects her sometimes capricious nature with varying results, so whilst some of her pieces display a penchant for sadness and self reflection, she can also be abstract, or funny, even when the joke is on her.

The Clock Tower Studio/Gallery is the live, work & exhibition space of Oakland-based multidisciplinary artist, Larissa and husband, Omar Dahroug, located in Oakland, California’s historic Cotton Mill Studios. CTSG also showcases the work of other visual, performing, literary and healing artists creating a tangible, physical dialogue about the world that surrounds us. At CTSG, a space has been created where multiple disciplines of Art merge inspiring critical thought, creativity, personal and community growth, Arts education and appreciating through the vehicle of rotating exhibits, special events, sale/commission of Art-work, private tours and/or workshops. CTSG is open for special events or by appointment Tuesday through Saturday.

A great deal of beauty can be found in the details of everyday life where the man-made intersects with the constantly transforming power of nature. Rust, peeling paint, broken glass and the insistent growth in cracks and crevices are places where this beauty can be found and this is where I search for a glimpse of the universal in the moment. I call my Art the Preponderance of the small after the 62nd hexagram of the I Ching. 510.601.7971

Mariah Carle is a full time artist & photographer who lives and works in the Jingletown Arts District of Oakland, California. She works out of a unique loft that reflects the constant flow of creativity that is needed to inspire each client individually, her sessions are as unique as the people she photographs. In addition to studio sessions she also shoots on location to provide you with spontaneous and diverse images. Mariah is also very active in local and international art and photography events. She works with art installations, writes, teaches classes, and regularly attends as well as facilitates community outreach events.

PJ Calihan is a native Californian and a long time citizen of Oakland now residing in the vibrant and exciting Jingletown Arts & Business community. Her photography reflects an interest in colors, texture and looking beyond the obvious in every scene and object.

Chthonic Theater is an emerging theater group under the direction of three sisters. This group’s projects involve collaboration and experimentation with music, dance, theater, written word as well as visual transformation of space through costumes and sets.

Jan Stamos

I love to look at, enjoy, collect, create, and play with art. Retired for a number of years now, I’ve decided to find a place to land and actually “do” art. I experiment with pen and ink, books (both altered and created), watercolor, acrylic and collage. Perhaps when I grow up I will land on a medium that is just right.

We are two photographers and educators with more than forty years of collective experience working as artists and educators. We are both university instructors in photography and artists-in-residence at multiple institutions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our works are included in several public and private collections and we have completed multiple public art commissions and have extensively exhibited and published our work. Among other public art commissions we are currently in the process of completing, we were recently commissioned to create work for Elevate Atlanta 2013 Public Art Project and we were honored to have that work selected for the City of Atlanta’s permanent collection.

A native of California, Jill has a background in music, painting, sculpture, and photography.In her early years she played, wrote and sang music with bands in the 60’s, and becamestaff photographer for the International Monterey Pop Festival, distinguishing herself as afine photographer. Although she had been painting during these years, she expanded her visual arts study at UCLA taking Metal Sculpture with early environmental artist Lloyd Hamrol.She continued to study painting on scholarship at The Art Student’s League in New York with Frank Mason, a master of classical painting, and with renowned painter David Laffel at his studio in Manhattan. She then moved to Italy and became immersed in Italian culture while living in Florence for many years. She showed her work extensively in galleries across Europe.
Jill started working on portrait commissions on her return to Los Angeles in the late 70’s. She moved to the bay area and studied Chinese medicine and philosophy for several years, both of which have influenced her work. She continued painting during the early 80’s while living in Mexico. On her return to the bay area, she began working extensively with paper pulp that evolved into her cast paper work during the 90’s. She broadened her use of materials to include clay for sculpting and cement as a medium for casting, and this period of working with 3 dimensional forms evolved into her sculptures of today. Her inspiration comes from an interest in Psychology, Mythology, early Renaissance paintings, classical Eastern imagery,and archetypal Feminine energy and wisdom. Her work has been shown in art galleries and gift stores throughout Europe and the U.S. and is in numerous private collections. Shecontinues to work with sculpture and painting at her studio in Marin, CA.

I have always expressed myself through art. By filling a blank page with shapes and colors, I create a world of my own. With every experience and acquired knowledge, I subconsciously create a source from which my art flows. Ancient civilizations, old tales and Nature influence me profoundly. Through my art, I’m seeking to synthesize a tangible world with a metaphysical one, to create a fable which takes on a life of its own. I consider myself to be a visual poet, where my art replaces written verses. My preferred techniques include oil and acrylic painting, and various kinds of graphics. Interesting form and attention to detail are always on my mind when I’m working. It gives me a great satisfaction when viewers perceive my art as visually attractive and thought provoking, where endless interpretations are possible. I was awarded an M.A. from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland.

Born from a desire to express an ever expanding range of dark and light values, this series not only reaches to the far limits of how our eyes perceive physical light but also how our psyche perceives human nature and its relationship to light and dark, good and evil, dominance and submissiveness. Light paintings can often be kitschy with shapes or words drawn into the dark space around a blurred subject, or soft and subtle but with an obvious technique of stroking a soft focused beam across the body or surroundings. The “LIGHT Bondage” series puts the light beam to good use and transforms it into a visibly tangible binding element which gracefully holds the subject in their position. The result is an almost impossible scenario of light interaction with the model, as if the light is living and elegantly dancing around the body. This process uses multiple light sources applied at different times during which the photographer is allowed to move around the model, essentially painting with light. No Photoshop tricks here! 99.9% of what you see here, other than minor blemish control for the models, is the same as what the photographer and model saw in camera when they created the shots. Todd c. Hartman is based in the Jingletown community in Oakland, CA and is a graduate of the Academy of Art University. His background, among various other disciplines, includes working as a visual effects supervisor and digital artist on a variety of commercials, shorts and feature films. He has been professionally acquiring various forms of imagery since 1989 and enjoys the process of applying his visual and special effects skills to his individual images with the same attention to detail as his moving images.

Afterspending a ridiculous amount of time and money polishing her work, Jingletown author Mary Patrick Kavanaugh eagerly awaited news as her agent pitched her novel to a list of New York publishers who, unfortunately, all shot down her dream of landing a book contract. Tired of dragging around dashed hopes and disappointment, the author buried that dream at an open casket funeral. Realizing there was nothing holding her back from publishing it herself, the novel is now available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, or iUniverse.com, and it’s getting rave reviews from more than just her mother.

Lee Krasnow is widely regarded by serious collectors as one of the worlds best designers and craftsmen of interlocking geometric puzzles and secret opening boxes. A self-taught artist, inventor and entrepreneur, Lee has been designing and manufacturing puzzles under the Pacific Puzzleworks brand name since 2001. Several of Lee’s original puzzle designs have received prominent awards in international design competitions, and he has given lectures on a variety of puzzle-related topics at forums including mathematicians conventions, puzzle collectors conventions, woodworking clubs, inventors clubs, the San Francisco Exploratorium, and the Bay Area Maker Faire. Lee has been living and working in Jingletown since 2007. Workshop tours are possible, but by appointment only please! A fun-to-watch interview with Lee at the 2006 Maker Faire http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH9JhRalzoY

Each of my pieces is individually hand-crafted and one of a kind. My designs typically incorporate asymmetry, botanical elements, matte or antique finishes and organic textures. My favorite material is sterling silver, which can be transformed with patinas as well as in shape. A growing amount of my work incorporates Art Clay, which is made from reclaimed, recycled silver combined with an organic binder. It’s an amazing, alchemical material that can be worked like clay, and becomes pure silver once fired in a kiln. I use the metal clay primarily to make detailed elements that I solder to sterling silver. I am one of a fairly small number of artists whose pieces combine metal clay with more traditional fabrication techniques. I love the idea that someone would wear or give something I made as an expression of their personal aesthetic.

I document a world hidden within the world we live in, providing an alternate view: prying, mysterious, lonely, and sometimes resembling a sci-fi post-apocalyptic cinematic scene. My subjects are often everyday places which I make unique through access, vantage point, and time, often scaling buildings, climbing poles, trees and other installations during nighttime. Prowling the streets seeking a unique vantage point from which to capture a story, I alter my immediate surroundings, altitude, temperature, humidity, and light. My images evoke the experience of sweeping movement through space, often translating to the progression of projects or events moving through time, i.e. “life in the fast lane” as opposed to “cross-town traffic.”

I always work from life, not photographs, because I am interested in seeing and documenting the essence, the kernel of the feel of the place or person and I love the physical act of drawing a unique look or body position. When painting both landscape and figure an improvisational dance-like connection happens between the subject and myself. The synergy between us dictates the painting so that there is always a sense of chance and risk. Visual impressions are first sketched loosely on the canvas; using a vigorous brushstroke, supported when needed by an organizing, calligraphic line. This sets up the tension and interplay between the figure/ground dynamic. Each further step continues the interaction between the seeing and the unknown.

I am drawn to making studio furniture because it fulfills my analytical need for order, as well as my creative need for expression. This desire to reconcile precision and freedom is not unique to my personality. It is also a trait of our contemporary aesthetic, which I aim to contribute to in my work. Wood is approachable and easily manipulated. Thus, it is an ideal medium for me to transform a precognitive image into a resolved object. The meditative state of craft provides me the daily pleasure in my occupation, but the art provides me the meaning. I believe the best art is an idea based upon knowledge and expressed with skill. It should reflect the past and hint at the future. Furniture is an intimate genre. It interacts with us by serving, stowing, cradling– supporting our bodies and our domestic activities in both personal and social ways. In doing so, studio furniture provides an intersection between design and life. I strive to make each piece express the right amount of visual information to make it art. I combine diverse materials and juxtapose lines and forms in honed proportions to build interesting, and hopefully poignant, compositions. Balancing modern and decorative, my work, like my personality, maintains a tension between ordinary and extraordinary. I am also available for commissions.

As an artist and an educator, Jill is aware of her surroundings, her experience and the differences and value of the experiences of others. She incorporates cultural and environmental awareness into everything that she presents to the public. She strives to make a more beautiful vision for the world and the future through the language of visual arts. Her paintings represent her personal expression of a collective human experience reflecting the conditions of our community.

Tomye Neal-Madison

When presenting my Artworks, it is an equitable expectation from the public as well as myself to see professional growth.

That means opening myself to various forms of education. I love learning about “things.” I prefer the info that feeds me is honest.

Pals of various backgrounds and cultures, enlighten me about the realities of life. There may be resemblances to the truth.

Their care about me, is given back to them. My circle of pals, most of whom have never purchased my Art, increase as my Art attracts like minded folks.

I use nature, ancient designs and the creative process to enhance the look and feel of repurposed plastic and found objects such as glass and stones polished by the movement of sand and waves. Using sterling and fine silver along with copper wire; I encase ordinary objects, transforming them into wearable pieces of art designed to grace the body and spirit. By hand working the wire, my jewelry has an organic feel that draws you to it’s beauty, both through sight and touch.

I am a dancer, a writer, a painter, and a dreamer. In my early twenties, I studied Japanese Butoh in Kyoto, Kathakali in Mysore, co-choreographed and performed in Manhattan and Portland, OR, Israel, and London. I have now been in the creative conundrum of working to translate years of dance into expressions in poetry and painting. Playing with words, pen, watercolor, acrylic, graphite, and various other compounded pigments, I am digging wells to god. I dream that through art, we will avenge ourselves by wildly willing a new paradigm.

Russ Osterweil 1956-2012

I am endlessly fascinated and enthralled as I use the camera to observe, preserve and express what moves me, that which I find beautiful and life affirming, and which describes or embodies my sense of grace. I explore my own humanity, by examining the mysterious internal beauty, struggle, humor and irony, strength and vulnerability of others and our environment. I look to capture the ephemeral nuance, the gesture, the moment when light and form and time coalesce to reveal an expression of wonder. Even the banal or horrific can be beautiful and informative, sometimes even inspiring.

Stan Peterson is an amazing wood carver and printmaker living in the Ford Street Studios. His work has shown in more than 50 exhibitions over the last 25 years. His art is also in more than 15 private collections, and several galleries.

Religious symbols, figures and parables, both Eastern and Western, as well their secular opposites, are used freely, open to interpretation and questioned from all angles. Yet all of it used reverently to counterbalance his palate, which threatens to sweep the contents off the canvas. In this mix, he adds texture to bring the interplay of the elements back to a human level.

PJ Reptilehouse borrows the multiple image techniques of chronophotography to create beautiful photographs that blur the line between figurative and abstract photography. Custom built LED strobe equipment, controllers, camera mounts and serendipity allow him to capture a unique take on the classic nude, inside the camera, without the use of Photoshop effects.

Every “Body” tells a story. My figurative works explore dreams, reflections, thoughts, and memories that translates into narrative depictions through the use of body language. Thematically my work is very much about how our body movements tell stories, through conscious and unconscious signals, typically with greater eloquence than what verbal communication allows. Whether depicting a single figure or through the juxtaposition and overlapping of multiple figures which appear at first glance to be abstract, each piece stimulates an engaging dialog with the viewer. I express and communicate an idea, emotion or thought using a common thread of assured and sensual lines creating artworks that are peaceful to joyful, sensual to sexual, alluring to provocative. I see particular beauty in the strength and sensuality of the human form. Drawing regularly from live models allows me to depict the beauty of anatomy, proportion, balance and movement. The traditional methodology, however, produces works that are completely contemporary.

Margo Rivera-Weiss is a Tropical Expressionist artist creating an eclectic body of work including colorful paintings, bottlecap sculptures and relief prints. Margo’s art has shown been in many locations and published in Edible East Bay. Margo is also an arts activist, raising funds for local causes and sharing creative skills through classes. Margo is delighted to finally open her own showing and studio space, Galeria Tropicana, inside Jingletown Art Studios.

Sarah Swell jewelry is handcrafted using centuries old techniques. Each and every piece is special and of the utmost quality. Often inspired by the natural world, Sarah Swell jewelry has an air of rugged, organic luxury accented by tiny sparkling diamonds. Sarah studied art at The School Of The Museum Of Fine Arts in Boston and goldsmithing at the Revere Academy Of Jewelry Arts in San Francisco. Check out her blog.

My work belongs to the future because I include the future in my work. Art made not for empire but about empire, not for class but about class, and art made as though there was a culture for which to make art.

A resident of Jingletown since the early 1990’s, slightly curmudgeonly, a bit on the eccentric side, with a maniacal enthusiasm for the automobile since his early youth; Bill Silveira enjoys making art out of discarded auto parts, rusty scrap metal, and other unique items that seem to find their way into his vast collection of interesting and eclectic junk. On other occasions you may also find him with a paintbrush in hand creating something usually inspired by the automobile with acrylic paints. Additionally, this semi-retired used car dealer is also well known in the filming industry as the guy who can provide you with just about anything you need from classic cars to caskets for your shoot. Think Sanford and Son-ish with a slightly twisted bent. t’s also been rumored that he’s worked for wine and cheese in his not-so-distant past, but that fact hasn’t been wholly substantiated just yet.

Rob Stiles’ architecture provides an integrated approach to design, fabrication, furniture and construction. Our focus is on natural and industrial materials such as concrete, steel, and wood, and we attempt to combine them to create a new modern vernacular aesthetic.

Raised in San Francisco, I have been involved with the Jingletown area of Oakland for almost 30 years and finally moved there almost 10 years ago. I have had a career as dancer, actor, production coordinator, fashion show producer and music composer.My work, described as formalist and romantic-realist, is in private collections in Spain, Switzerland, Italy, France, Mexico and the United States. It has been shown in solo and group exhibitions.

Laurel True is a Bay Area artist specializing in mosaic, mixed media and public art. She is the co-founder and director of the Institute of Mosaic Art in Oakland, and principal of True Mosaic Studio, a professional mosaic studio specializing in site-specific architectural commissions and public art. Working with conceptual themes, True weaves together fine art and craft based techniques, utilizing both natural and unnatural materials to achieve varying effects in her two and three- dimensional artworks.

Lindamay creates jewelry designs using metal clay (bronze, copper, silver), wire, plastic, fabric, paper, resin, cement and whatever materials that are at hand and functional. She uses found elements and vintage ephemera, along with inspirations from nature, to build her designs.

Photographer Jan Watten has a passion for expressing the essence and core of her subject’s being. “My work really revolves around the idea of identity. It is really difficult to capture the completeness of someone, and what I am interested in is capturing an aspect of them,” she says, “an isolated moment.” Watten chooses to photograph her subjects in black and white, because “I see in black and white. It reduces an image and you don’t have distractions of color. You are getting rid of extraneous information, and it’s very pure.” This vision of purity and simplicity was nurtured during her 13 years living abroad in Taiwan, where she found artists’ works to be very minimal.

Jon Zax

My view of reality is that everything in our known universe is only the thin film between larger unseen forces.
It is my goal to represent this visually in the photographs that I make.